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# anonymity in moos

- Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 16:49:04 PDT
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    We've been having a big debate on our MOO about whether or not to have
    player's email addresses be publically readable.  Reasons for it are to
    encourage a more mature player base, with people who are willing to be
    open about who they are (our MOO is intended to be a virtual community,
    as well as the usual social VR that most MOOs seem to be).  On the other
    hand, there's arguments that some people would rather remain anonymous,
    for one reason or another.

    I'm curious about any MOOs that have done this in the past; I know a
    little about MediaMOO and have read various papers in the MOO document
    archives (back when I had ghostscript on my machine, argh... wish those
    docs were in html). I'm wondering if any others currently running have a
    similar policy.

    In our debate today, one person speculated that if Lambda were to
    institute such a policy, half the players would quit.  I haven't been to
    Lambda in a long while so I'm not sure what the players there are like,
    either, but a friend of mine noted this to me:  "As accountability
    decreases, base meanness increases.  Look at the near-absolute anonymity
    of LambdaMOO and the resultant coarse and crude behavior that's rampant
    over there.  (Lambda's not alone, it's just a highly visible example.)"
    This isn't intended as a slam on Lambda either, just an observation, and
    a bit of self-questioning as to "is this the road we want to travel down?"
    I'm not sure.  I do know I don't want our MOO to become like a chat room
    on AOL.

    Anyway, I'd like to hear how others have done it; I know most MOOs are
    still anonymous though.  Does that hinder a MOO from being taken serious
    as a virtual community?

    -Jackie Hamilton (kira@metronet.com)
    http://www.metronet.com/~kira/

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- From: cadams@weather.brockport.edu (Chuck Adams)

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